1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to throwers and, more particularly, to a thrower for use with targets, such as clay birds, toys, balls and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the sport of trap and skeet shooting, a clay bird or “pigeon” is thrown into the air and a shooter attempts to shoot the target before it hits the ground. Points are accumulated for number of targets hit.
In the past, there have been many devices for throwing the clay birds and U.S. Pat. Nos. D249,815; D524,901; 1,700,880; 4,076,004; 4,222,361; 4,233,952; 4,347,828; 4,548,413; 4,730,595; 4,974,574; 4,984,556; 5,515,835; 5,390,652; 5,465,704; 5,515,835; 5,537,985; 5,579,748; 6,076,829 and 7,523,915.
In the area of hand-held clay throwers, it is always desired to provide throwers that can throw the clay targets at a very high velocity or speed and at great distances. There is also a desire to have the targets released with no or minimal “wobble” which can be caused by a relative movement of the target holding of a handheld thrower relative to its handle. For example, if the target holder rotationally twists or flexes about the longitudinal axis of the thrower during a throw, the target can be released in a plane that is not co-planar with the plane in which the handheld thrower is moving. This can result in an improperly released or wobbling target.
There is, therefore, a need to provide an improved hand thrower that facilitates releasing targets at a velocity and at greater distances than integrally-formed plastic hand throwers of the past and to also provide a hand thrower that provides a pivotal connection that facilitates reducing any wobble effect when the target is released from the hand thrower.